Liverpool 'would love players off social media' after Balotelli charge

Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre has admitted players' use
of social media "is a problem" in the wake of the controversy
surrounding Reds striker Mario Balotelli.
The Italian was charged by the Football Association on
Friday with an "aggravated breach" of its rules regarding a
recent post on on social media.
Balotelli reposted an image of computer game character Super
Mario on Instagram earlier this week, which included the
words "jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew."
He apologised for any offence caused but could now face a
ban, and Ayre told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek
programme that it is something his club could do without.
"Given the choice we'd love to keep all our players away from
social media because it really is a problem," he said.
"I can honestly say there isn't any more we could do as a club
to try to educate our players around this, but it still rears its
head at least once a season -- probably at every club in some
form or another."
Balotelli has been sidelined by a groin injury recently and Ayre
added: "One of the problems that all footballers have had for
many a year is that they have too much time to kill.
"In that downtime they seem to put these crazy sort of
messages up. It is definitely an issue.
"I don't think we have got to the point where we would stop
people doing it, but we certainly have a very stringent policy
that all of our players sign. If they step out of line then we
punish them."